As a developer passionate about blending technology with real-world applications, I embarked on a project to streamline the process of evaluating antique listings on Craigslist. The result is RoadShow, an application that automates the collection and analysis of antique listings, providing insights into their value, authenticity, and historical context.
🎯 The Challenge
Navigating through countless Craigslist listings to find genuine antiques can be time-consuming and often requires expertise to assess an item’s worth and authenticity. I aimed to create a tool that not only aggregates these listings but also provides meaningful analysis to assist collectors, resellers, and enthusiasts in making informed decisions.
🧰 The Solution
RoadShow is designed to:
Scrape Listings: Utilizes Puppeteer to collect antique listings from Craigslist NYC, ensuring efficient data retrieval with rate limiting and error handling.
Store Data: Saves listing details, images, and analysis results in a structured SQLite database for easy access and management.
Analyze with AI: Integrates OpenAI’s API to evaluate each listing, providing:
Estimated fair market value
Price assessment (underpriced, overpriced, or fair)
Authenticity evaluation
Tips for determining authenticity
Historical context and additional insights
🧠 How It Works
Data Collection: The application uses Puppeteer to navigate Craigslist’s NYC antiques section, extracting relevant information from each listing.
Data Storage: Extracted data, including images, are stored in a SQLite database, facilitating efficient data management and retrieval.
AI Analysis: Each listing is analyzed using OpenAI’s API, generating comprehensive insights that are appended to the database records.
🚀 Getting Started
To explore or contribute to RoadShow, visit the GitHub repository: https://github.com/peteralcock/RoadShow